February 17, 2016

Why Our Government Isn't Listening: How Greed Is at the Root of US Suffering

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/34791-why-our-government-isn-t-listening-how-greed-is-at-the-root-of-us-suffering
"This political system - the organization that dictates the rules that control people's lives - is, as Sen. Elizabeth Warren says, "rigged." There is a reason corporate profits are at an 85-year high, while workers' pay is at a 65-year low. There is a reason Congress is a millionaires' club. US legislators and corporate executives are tied together in a reciprocal, remunerative relationship. A handful of individuals and their corporations openly spend millions in political campaign contributions (and millions more anonymously in dark money), as well as $2.6 billion every year to lobby Congress (more than the Senate and House budget combined). Corporate executives profit from this investment in corporate welfare (subsidies, grants, incentives, tax breaks and tax loopholes), the preservation of the destructive status quo, and beneficial (or the lack of detrimental) legislation that their lobbyists actually help to write."